Chapter Text
Suddenly, Charmander's world came to a complete standstill. His companion was serious: he was going back to his world, and he would never come back.
“But... why... why do you have to leave?” he asked, beginning to sadden, watching as his friend smiled at him, in his last minutes stepping on the solid ground of the Pokémon World. “Why do you have to go!!!?
“You see... we saved the world from an almost impossible threat.... thanks to you we were able to destroy the meteor, we were able to convince Rayquazza to do it.”
“Are you serious, Pikachu?” asked Squirtle. “Do you really have to go?
“Yes... I didn't want to tell you earlier so you wouldn't worry...”
The beautiful orange sunlight over the mountains illuminated the entire Grand Canyon. Meanwhile, the rescue team “Go-Getters!” had to face the loss of one of its members, which was about to happen. At first, only Squirtle, Chikorita and Charmander had made up the team, but after Pikachu's arrival, some more began to arrive after their adventures, such as Eevee, Cubone and Totodile, who were also going to miss Pikachu a lot.
“Guys...” said Pikachu. “These last few months have been the best for me.... You guys have taught me a lot of things that, if you had never found me, I would have never known existed.... I've been able to meet a lot of really worthwhile people, like you, who truly are my friends.” After that, she moved a little closer to them as she shed a few tears. “Don't worry about me, okay? Now my only way is up, but you guys have many places to go...”
Suddenly, a sphere of golden energy surrounded him completely. Charmander opened his eyes as he tried to hold back tears, wanting to look strong.
“Pikachu!” exclaimed Chikorita, in a pitiful tone.
“I'm going to miss you guys so much, I really am!” she said, smiling, not stopping the tears. “Thank you for everything, really, and you too, Charmander, because you helped me without thinking and you were my best friend! These scarves will always make us think what good friends we...”
Suddenly, Charmander began to tremble and clench his fists. Why did he have to leave? Why couldn't he stay, what was wrong with that? The Universe was saved, everyone would go back to their lives and the team would return in search of new missions, but why did it have to be like this?
“Charmander?” asked Totodile and Cubone.
But he didn't answer. Pikachu tried to get him to look at him.
“Hey, listen to me, please...”
But suddenly, Charmander puffed out his chest in an unbelievable way and, after staying like that for a few seconds, while shaking, he sobbed so loudly that it was heard all over the place:
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
And he began to run without turning back while he did not stop crying. He ran without stopping back to where he had come from.
“Charmander!” shouted the whole team, but it was too late, he had already disappeared.
Pikachu cried silently. He would have to leave without being able to comfort him. Soon, he slowly soared into the sky under the gaze of the rest of the team.
“ I'm sorry...” murmured Pikachu, shedding tears.
The ball of energy disappeared into the bluish starry sky, with a flash. The others just watched, some crying, and some emotionally. Suddenly, they noticed Charmander.
“He must have gone to the base, I'm sure!” said Cikorita, worried.
“I don't think he's okay!” said Totodile, starting to head back the way they had come.
“Come on guys, we can't waste time!” shouted Squirtle, starting to run, the others followed without hesitation.
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Charmander wouldn't stop running. It didn't matter where he went, he didn't care that there were wild enemies about to stalk them, he didn't care that it was going to get dark and he would get lost, he couldn't help but think that without his friend, without the companion with whom he had felt so paired up thanks to those friendship scarves, he would be nothing, that he would never be happy again.
It didn't matter that he had the rest of the team as his friends, it didn't matter that there were a lot of pokemon in trouble, he didn't care about anything.
He just wanted his friend at that moment, and he had lost him.
“Pikachu, Pikachu!l" he shouted in the middle of serious sobs, which could be heard quite far away depending on the area he advanced. “Don't leave me, don't leave me!
So many moments came to his mind that made him feel even worse: that time he met the pokemon that swore it was human. He remembered well how it had helped him defend himself in the dungeons and how they had successfully rescued the daughter of that Buterfree, a Caterpie. They remembered how they went to see Xatu, who told them about the legends of Ninentales and the human on whom he placed a curse, prophesying that he would be reborn as a pokémon and that the Pokémon World would be destabilized by then.
By then, it had also been funny how they had been thrown out of Pokémon Plaza when they thought that Pikachu was the human reborn in Pokémon, but then Gengar himself was discredited and humiliated. Although the most emotional thing of all was remembering why Pikachu was there: because he was destined to be the savior of the world, the one who would put an end to a time of instability and chaos, like natural disasters and so on. The human requested that all memories be erased from his heart and mind, for this purpose. And it had all been in a dream in which that Gardevoir had appeared to him.
Charmander was confused. Nothing made sense. He felt very bad, confused and hurt by the whole situation. He tripped many times and rolled on the ground, but he didn't care at all. He would slip and fall, but he wouldn't care either. Pain was no longer something to him, because all the pain he could have ever felt was already present in his heart. Suddenly, by not looking where he was going to wipe his eyes with his arm, he hit his head hard against a very thick tree trunk, in which he left a gigantic dent. But he didn't care, even though he felt that horrible pain, crying and sobbing because of it.
Life was torment for him. They were supposed to finally be happy, but on the contrary, everything was blacker than he could feel.
In the middle of the path, he tripped, went flying and fell hard to the ground. He sat up with difficulty, still crying, looking at himself full of dirt. Then, he looked away: the Team Base was there, in the form of his best friend present to him. This only made him remember more painfully.
He ran inside and stopped inside. They had met there many times with the team, always ready to leave for a new mission. But the obvious was missing there. Without his partner, without his best friend, his unbeatable ally, there was no point in being there...
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It had become night. Early, but at night.
The rest of the team ran as fast as they could to try to get to the base as soon as possible. The way Charmander had run, the way his friend had left had filled them with worry. Pikachu had been for him someone at heart towards whom he had had a lot of mutual affection and affection. That could be very bad.
"Come on guys, there's nothing left to go!" Eevee encouraged them without stopping worrying.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh, h-how long will we be like this?" Totodile asked, holding his chest because of the flatus.
"I think an hour, but we can't stop!" said Squirtle, leading the charge. "I don't want anything to happen to Charmander!"
"Look, there's nothing left, I think we're close... There it is!" she said, pointing to the base, which was beginning to appear between the trees.
Everyone gave one last push to get there, but then they heard a scream inside it.
"EVERYTHING IS MY FAULT!!!!!!!"
And a loud "boom" from inside the base.
"What was that?" Cubone asked.
Suddenly, another even louder "boom"
Suddenly, they realized what was happening.
"Charmader!" Squirtle shouted, and went to the entrance of the base followed by the others. What he saw was something terrible:
Charmander was shaking heavily. His knees and legs were stained with dirt and had some injuries from falling to the ground. He couldn't stop sobbing, mumbling words that were unintelligible to him, sweating heavily and breathing hard while he hit his head with his fist, with his eyes closed shedding rivers of tears, going from one side to the other. They saw that he already had a bump on his forehead and was about to get another one, since the skin on his forehead was very red. Seeing the precarious state of his leader, they were very scared and ran to stop him before he could hurt himself further.
Squirtle lunged at him, knocking him to the ground.
"Charmander, don't do it anymore!" he yelled at him. "Why do you do it!?
"Leave me alone, I don't want to go on anymore!" He said without stopping crying, hitting himself again with his fist. "He's gone, he's gone, he's not coming back, I've lost him forever!"
When he was about to get stronger, Totodile grabbed him forcefully and tried to immobilize him, but Charmander freed himself again.
"You don't have to do that, you're hurting yourself!" Chikorita said, trying to corner him and make him see reason.
"Leave me alone!" he repeated again, trying to breathe. He sat up, dizzy and wiping the sweat from his face. He felt a very oppressive sensation reaching his chest.
At that moment, they all took advantage and went towards him to try to control him, but when he was about to move, they all secured him so that nothing worse could be done.
"We can't solve anything like this! You have to calm down!" Totodile told him, trying to get him to sit next to him.
"My best friend is gone, I love him, I love him, I don't want to live without him!" the fire type pokemon shouted.
"Please don't cry anymore, I'm begging you, calm down!" Eevee said, trying to get on top of her, but he pushed her away from her forcefully, almost falling.
"LEAVE ME ALONE, LEAVE MEEEEE!" he said, sobbing non-stop.
"Please, stop now, please! Even if he is gone, you will always have the scarf with which you will be connected forever, you will always be together!" Squirtle tried to console him, but that only caused him to shake his head vigorously and hit the ground. "NOO!!"
Calming him was impossible. Charmander was in a very bad state.
Out of desperation, Squirtle began to cry, begging him to calm down, that they could help him overcome this, that they would do missions together again and that they would never leave him alone. He tried to dry her tears with his handkerchief, but more came out again. The others were exhausted and tired, not knowing what to do.
Meanwhile, outside, that ball of golden energy came down from the sky again. Pikachu was in it: he had decided to stay. He understood that he really had a family there, along with his friends from the rescue team. He smiled to see what would now be his new home. He now only wanted to do one thing: see his partner, his best friend. He would surely be very happy, he would even cry with happiness to see him again. There really were many things to do in that wonderful world.
Gently, he landed in front of the base's entrance. It was night and the moon and stars ruled the sky, with the sweet aroma of the air wafting through the trees. He couldn't stop thinking about his friend, that he hadn't been able to accept that. He also thought that it was his fault, because he had not been able to tell him his decision in time, but he would soon understand why he should never have left.
Immediately, he began to hear crying coming from a person he knew very well. His companion. And it seemed like it was something serious, because she was crying loudly. He immediately went to see what was happening, and when he wanted to realize it, he saw his friend just as he was, with the wounds on his legs, dirty with dirt and with the skin on his head red, now with two bumps, one larger. that other. He was sitting on the floor, with tears rolling down his cheeks and new tears coming out of his eyes, expressing a lot of sadness as he called his friend, sobbing.
"Pikachuuuu, Pikachuuuu!" he said without stopping. Suddenly, he wanted to get up, but the others supported him. "If he doesn't come back, then I don't want to stay in this world, it's over, I'll go wherever I am, I'd rather die than live without my friend!"
"WHAT!?" the rest shouted, trying to sit him on the ground, increasingly difficult.
That destroyed Pikachu: his friend was really out of her mind. He loved it so much that he couldn't live without it, to the point of literally not being able to stand being without it? He felt himself start to cry, but he didn't want to be discovered. His eyes began to water and turn glossy, as he tried to hold back his tears.
"Leave me, I don't love you, I only love Pikachu, I only love him!" and he got up strongly, starting to run. "I ONLY WANT HIM, AND IF HE'S NOT HERE, I DON'T WANT IT EITHER!"
Charmander was running towards Pikachu, not knowing that he was there, since he was with his eyes closed, slapping himself a few times. Suddenly, Pikachu couldn't take it anymore: he jumped towards Charmander and stopped him, taking him by the arms and laying him on the ground, sitting on his belly to make sure he would be okay.
"BWAAAAAAAAH, AAAAH-AHHH-AHHH!" Charmander cried, trying to move and free himself angrily. Pikachu began to cry, shedding some tears on both scarves that were around his neck, each time squeezing Charmander's arms so that he would stay still. "PIKACHUUUU!"
"Stop, please, stop, calm down, calm down, please!" his friend begged him with eyes full of tears. "I'm here, I'm here!"
Everyone recognized that voice.
The team looked at him in amazement. What was he doing there? What had happened? Hadn't he gone to the human world?
Suddenly, Charmander continued crying, but he opened his eyes and saw, among his blurred vision, the electric yellowish creature. They were both crying, with wet handkerchiefs and looking at each other. Suddenly, Charmander felt emotional, wanting to cry even more. He launched himself into Pikachu's arms, who hugged him tightly as he reciprocated.
"PIKACHUUUU!!" He exclaimed, in the middle of crying, caressing his friend, fearing that he would disappear again. His voice broke as did his crying. Meanwhile, his opposite number sobbed silently, stroking his orange head, observing the two bumps that had already grown quite large.
"Shhh... shh... I'm here, everything's over, it's over..." he whispered to her while his opposite number sobbed loudly. "Forgive me, it's my fault, everything is my fault!" he exclaimed, bursting into tears. Out of exhaustion, he sat on the floor and they both hugged each other tightly, making sure that neither of them began to disappear.
The entire team gave up too. They ran next to both of them and embraced each other, trying not to cry for the emotional scene they had been watching, but also for having their friend back.
In the end, everything ended a little later, almost midnight. Pikachu and Charmander stayed in the small lake at the base, taking care that the first one's tail didn't get wet, to help him wash the wounds and dirt, although they hugged and cried for a long time. Later, when everyone had gone to sleep, Charmander was still thinking about what happened while he hugged Pikachu while he slept.
Charmander fell asleep, although feeling a little bad inside of him.